Customer Reviews

Sunforce 44447 900W Whisper Wind Turbine

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I invested in this Sunforce 44447 900W Wind Turbine for a small house in a wind zone. With some help I installed the windmill (I was corrected several times - they're called "wind turbines") - it was very simple. Installing the tower kit is where the time is, because sliding on the turbine and installing the blades is easy. This is a quiet windmill. This 74 pound turbine has only 3 moving parts so it is unlikely to break down. It came with a 5-year warranty. It starts up at about 7.5 mph wind speed and it's working fine! You should get the Sunforce Tower Kit with it, and it will be 30 to 33 feet high. You also need batteries to store the power.

The current price at the time of this review, about $2,200 is a better than what I paid to own it. I paid just over $2,600 early in the year and that was the very best price available at the time, without free shipping and from H.D. Thus the current price is excellent, probably the best price compared to buying it from another vendor, and compares favorably versus similar Gamesa, Enercon and GE Energy turbines because I checked. But make sure you get the manufacturer's 5-year warranty.

With a maximum power of 900 Watts at best, this turbine is not going to be adequate to power an entire big house. It is recommended for a "cottage" or "cabin." But it's great backup power nevertheless, and as long as there is a wind speed average of 12 mph or better, there's no worry about it paying for itself. This experience made me more confident about wind turbines and I'm thinking next time to go with the Sunforce 44490 if that price hits my sweet spot. That one is more expensive but gets higher output at lower wind speeds and delivers twice the output of this one. Still, you can't beat this price for the Sunforce 44447, a wind turbine that will last a long time no matter the weather and give you an early breakeven point.

To determine whether it was a good idea to invest in wind power, I had to first make sure the location has enough wind. It's recommended that you have at least a 9 mph average wind speed at your house, and there are websites where you can check this. You have to have a radius of about 250 feet to accommodate your tower and make sure there aren't any laws against your putting up a tower. Regulations can be a little complicated, for example some states require easement rights to inspect your windmill (turbine!) whenever they want.

It's also a great idea to check with your utility company to find out if their policy is to connect a renewable energy system to the electrical grid, and they vary a lot in this regard. I am looking forward to the day when we get a federal law that requires power companies to buy excess renewable energy under conditions where it is a public good. The more of us that get wind turbines, the stronger our case will be, so I love to see those wind turbines go up. Until then one has to think more about battery storage and letting the system shut down once the batteries are fully charged in most states. If your utility company doesn't have a dedicated individual to deal with grid-connection requests, you can try contacting the state utility consumer advocate group or the state energy authority.

You still need to get the tower kit to mount the turbine. This is the one to get for this turbine: Sunforce 44455 Wind Generator 30' Tower Kit

(This is a great turbine for the correct wind conditions. Well-built and very inexpensive for what you get.)

There are good reviews here and elsewhere, but I wanted to add a couple of do-before-buying recommendations:

- Don't rely on a simple windmap of your area of the country
- Measure it. There are many folks who have datalogging anemometers available for loan/rent on a tall pole.
- Put up a pole the height you're thinking of, and measure the wind speeds for (ideally) a month in the summer and in the winter.
- Consider going another ten feet higher in elevation. Most of the small wind turbines I've seen in the field have been mounted lower than optimal for the winds. The price of a taller tower is small compared to the turbine operating less efficiently.
- Then compare actual wind speeds with the power output vs. wind speed curves
- Get a permit if it's required!

I have one of these and the reason I purchased it was after finding all the additional details at http://www.searchgeek.com it helped me decide and I love it. It is great having free electricity. All my neighbours think it is great but someone did call the town and they said I need a permit. We will see.